Whether you sell toothbrushes or multi-million dollar medical equipment and everything in between — until a customer:

Knows who you are

Likes who you are

Trusts you

there is no purchase. The depth of the trust required varies but there must be at least a base level of trust in place before anyone will spend a dime.

One of the things I love about social media/content marketing is that it is hard-wired to help savvy business people maximize this equation.

Know = search. If I can’t find you, then I can’t know you exist. Understanding how potential customers are using search when they want what you sell is vital to your business success today. Do you know what key words and phrases you should be mindful of? Are you creating content that will leverage that?

Like = social networks/blogs. When I hang out with you, in person or online, I get a sense of who you are and whether or not I like who you are. When I read your blog, I begin to learn who you are and what you believe. Are you out there, creating conversations and relationships? If not — when are you going to start?

Trust = consistency online and off. It’s easy to fake being nice, smart or helpful once or twice. But that’s tough to pull off on a consistent basis. We know that when it comes to our offline world. And we’re learning it’s just as true online as well. One of the greatest elements of having a digital presence is that it can quickly provide someone with a long term view of who/how you are. That builds trust.

That equation lines up perfectly with how content marketing/social media is supposed to work. When you create great, helpful content that aligns with how people search — you create that long tail effect that drives people to you. When you share it through your social networks and it’s done without being pushy or sleazy, people will come to like and respect you. Like and respect evolves into trust when you behave consistently in the same way.

Too many organizations go hot and cold with their marketing. They’re aggressive or at least active one month or one quarter and then are dormant for months at a time. Or other companies market like crazy when sales are down but when they get busy, marketing falls off the radar.

Or maybe your particular version is that you only deliver the first half of the one/two punch. You drop the direct mail piece but you never follow up with the phone call.

Regardless of how or why — the inconsistency of your marketing hurts you. It turns a warm prospect into a cold one, by the time you get back around to marketing again.

This is one of the most common marketing mistakes that companies big and small make over and over. They try to time their marketing. Much like a day trader who believes you can time the market, knowing exactly when to jump in and out – some business owners and marketing types believe they can guestimate exactly when their marketing message needs to be in front of their consumers.

Here’s the kernel of truth we don’t like to acknowledge. We can’t know (unless you sell Christmas trees or some other very seasonal product) when our prospects are going to begin their buying process. I’m not talking about when they’re going to buy. The reality is – we need to get to them way before they make that decision.

To be one of the considered choices – you have to on the list to begin with. Marketing is all about getting a prospect to know who you are, like who you are and trust who you are.

Just like in our personal relationships – that doesn’t happen in an instant.

Getting them to know you: We get to know others gradually, through either an extended contact or many quick hits. Marketing works the same way. In most cases, a prospect isn’t going to give you their time and attention for more than a few minutes…so you have to go with the “be present all the time, so when they need/want you – you’re there” model. We call this drip marketing. There are lots of ways to do this and I’ll dig into them next week.

Getting them to like you: This is about being authentic. Will everyone like you? Nope…but you don’t need everyone. You just need enough of the right someones. Here’s the tough part about this phase. They have to like more than what you sell. They also have to like the people selling it. Let them get to know your organization and your people.

Getting them to trust you: The bigger your price tag, the deeper the trust needs to be. But no matter what you sell, trust is the cornerstone of actually making the sale. How do you get a buyer to trust you? In marketing terms, it’s actually pretty straightforward. You are honest (see getting them to like you), you are consistent and you actually follow up when you say you’re going to.

While all of that sounds simple, most businesses fail miserably at it.

McLellan Marketing Group is an advertising | marketing agency based in Des Moines, IA, and serving clients all over the US.
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All very important concepts on this blog. And in your organization. At the core of every one of them is trust. Or the lack thereof.

Think of any relationship you have — personal or professional. How close you feel to that person is directly correlated to how much you trust them. The deeper the trust, the deeper the relationship. And the deeper the relationship, the more likely it is to be long lasting. Which from your business’ point of view translates to more profitable. (This works the same with employees, by the way)

The only thing more painful that being in a relationship where you are not trusted… is being in a relationship where you cannot trust. In fact, no real relationship can exist where trust does not.

So sooner or later… it will go away.

Notice that I didn’t say like, love, respect, or admire. We can like or even love someone and not trust them. We can respect someone’s work or intelligence and not trust them. We can even admire someone’s abilities or talents and still not trust them.

I can be the most innovative, proactive, on the cutting edge, smartest marketing guy in the world — but if you don’t trust me and believe that I have your best interest at heart — you simply won’t be able to do business with me over the long haul.

Why? Because there will always be that nagging doubt. You will always question my sincerity. You will see hidden motives and meanings, even if they don’t exist. Even when I offer rationale and truthful explanations — you’ll wonder what’s underneath.

Trust defies logic, fact and truth. It’s all about the gut. Factually accurate or not — it is innate in nature.

I know with certainty (and you know this about your company as well) that clients hire us based on how they feel about us. And in our case, being a marketing agency — they are bringing their hopes, dreams, fears, baggage, dirty laundry and secrets with them. They are hoping like crazy that they can spill that bag onto our conference room table and let us see it all and help them sort it out.

But first, they need to decide if they trust us. Do we really care or are we just trying to get their money? And your clients are asking themselves the same questions about you.

So how do you create an atmosphere of trust? How do you reassure prospects and current clients that you’re worthy of their trust?

Be human: We make mistakes. We don’t know all the answers. We forget things. When any of those happen with a client — say so. And point it out before they notice.

Example: I honestly don’t know how to get our software to give you the information you need. But, I’m on it and will report back.

Be honest about what you can/can’t do: You’re not the best at everything. You have strengths and weaknesses as an organization. Disclose those and show how you overcome them.

Example: Our strength is really in the writing and directing sides of things. We partner with a very good videographer to shoot. Their costs are already included in the estimate.

Care: Don’t say that you care — actually care. And caring is an action verb. Do things that demonstrate that your customer’s best interests matter to you. Go out of your way. Regularly.

Example: We didn’t replace the gasket because we couldn’t get your car to act up the way you described. So, we called the dealership and they didn’t know. Then, we called Ford and they faxed us some information and it turns out, it was your flibberdejibbit.

Behave in a way that creates trust: Trust is strengthened or weakened by actions. There’s a reason we all know the axiom — actions speak louder than words. It’s harder to mask true intentions in a behavior than it is to sugar coat some words.

Examples: Create simple, easy to understand invoices. Always be happy to over explain when a customer has a question about your process, your costs or your intentions.

We want to create love affairs with our customers. That can’t happen without earning their trust. Trust is what drives word of mouth. Trust is what earns loyalty. And trust is at the heart of any relationship worth having.